How do I display the contents of only certain registers instead of all of them at once?

Explanation

The :reg (alias :registers) command accepts a string of register names as its argument. Passing one or more names shows only those registers, making it easy to compare a few specific values without scrolling through all 48+ registers that :reg alone would display.

How it works

• :reg with no arguments lists every register that has content
• :reg {chars} displays only the registers whose names appear in {chars}
• The argument is a string of names, not space-separated: :reg ab shows a and b; :reg a b c does the same (spaces are ignored)
• Works with named registers (a–z), numbered registers (0–9), and special registers (", +, *, -, etc.)

Example

After recording a macro into q and yanking text into a:

:reg qa"

Shows only registers q, a, and " (the default register):

--- Registers ---
"q   dd0^M
"a   some yanked text
""   last deleted/changed text

Tips

• :reg 0 shows the yank register — the most recently yanked text, unaffected by deletes
• :reg 0" shows the yank register alongside the default register — useful to confirm a yank before pasting
• :reg +* shows both clipboard registers on systems with clipboard support
• :reg 123456789 shows the numbered delete history registers in order
• In insert mode, <C-r>a pastes from register a directly